Jordan Lewis is known for her stoic disposition, completely unfazed by anything that comes her way on and off the court.
Lewis has been named SEC Freshman of the Week five times. She has started every game this season and averages 10 points per game – making her the No. 3 scorer on the team. Lewis has as many individual freshman weekly awards as the entire program had before this season.
“The awards are nice,” Lewis said. “It’s not really just my award though, it’s a team effort because without everyone on my team, I wouldn’t get the chance to succeed in the first place.”
The general business major from Windermere, Florida is known by her family and teammates as a humble and relaxed person, both on and off the court. Who she is today is because of where she has been. Off the court, Lewis is also a member of The University of Alabama National Honor’s Society. On the court, you’ll never see her lose face over a failure, but you won’t see her celebrate success either. She doesn’t like to remain in the moment either way–she has to keep moving.
She is no stranger to starting over and going again. Her family has moved eight times since her parents, Sherene and Derek Lewis, got married. They started out in Maryland before moving onto places such as Cincinnati, Ohio, where Jordan was born. From there, the Lewis family continued on to Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Connecticut and then Florida.
“She adapted very well, each time we moved I felt that she was able to adapt to a new environment quickly,” Derek Lewis said. “It was always a new school, new team, new coach, new house, new neighborhood but Jordan and her siblings took it in stride.”
The Lewis family’s nomadic lifestyle armed Jordan Lewis with the ability to let go of things quicker than most because she had to. She had to adapt as fast as she could because much like a basketball game, life was going to keep moving whether she was with it or not. Jordan did not just want to be with it, she wanted to own it.
“I think she goes back to all those moves and those challenges that she’s faced and uses that as her center to say ‘I can handle anything, I can move eight times, I can play five sports, I can deal with a lot of adversity and still be calm and see light at the end of the tunnel,’ ” Sherene Lewis said.
She entered Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida when she was in the sixth grade. She played above her grade level in basketball ever since because she had the intensity, toughness and size. It wasn’t until her coach, Al Honor, joined the program that something really clicked for Jordan Lewis.
“My high school coach–I would say he had a different style. He was more hardcore and pushed me to do better,” Jordan Lewis said. “Not saying Coach Kristy doesn’t but she has a different way. She’s positive and energetic.”
Honor brought out the best in her as a player and as he got closer with Jordan, her trustworthiness, loyalty, and coachability began to show. It was those qualities that Jordan Lewis possessed that got her noticed by Kristy Curry in the first place, on and off the court.
“Her high school coach Al Honor coached some great players that played in the SEC and her development, not just in the gym but she was always in the gym or always studying,” said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry. “Her choices showed me she was at the highest level she could be and she has tremendous parents and tremendous family that hold her accountable. She’s very mature, she’s accountable, and she just works so hard and as we continue to build our program, it’s not just about the player, it’s about the people and she is a great cornerstone as far as people go.”
A large part of Jordan’s success can be attributed to her supportive family. Derek Lewis said that they refer to their family and close friends as “team Lewis.” Team Lewis travels as often as any SEC team does. Lewis’ parents travel to Tuscaloosa from Windermere, Florida, to support their daughter as often as possible–that is, when they aren’t in Washington D.C. supporting their son, Devon Lewis, who is a senior on the men’s lacrosse team at Georgetown University. The youngest member of team Lewis is Kellan Lewis, who is 11 years old and just as active as his two older siblings.
Jordan Lewis grew up playing every sport she could, including soccer, softball, basketball and even taekwondo, which her mother’s idea to help her poor balance. Her extensive athletic background, as well as her various moves across the country, could not prepare her for the college experience she is living now. She has worked on balancing life at Alabama as a student-athlete for two semesters now and although she is finally getting the hang of it, it’s not easy.
“It’s been different, but I think coming in the summer really helps with balancing school work and working out and all that stuff so it’s been tough,” Jordan Lewis said. “First semester, we had practice first and then class in the afternoon, and then study hall at night, but now it’s like we have class first and then practice and then study hall and I think having study hall as a period really helps us out. They stay on top of us and make sure we go to class everyday so that helps.”
In the wake of any challenges freshman year has presented, Lewis has made it a habit to look to her extensive support system to remember why those hours spent in the gym and in the classroom are all worth it.
“She’s a ‘we first’ versus a ‘me first’ kind of kid and it’s really all about team, to the point where we try to push her to do more but if it’s out of the realm of the team dynamic and what the team’s supposed to do she will push back,” Derek Lewis said. “She needs to listen to coach and you just have to love her, she’s a very coachable kid, very loyal, very trustworthy and puts the team first. She will not do anything that will potentially sacrifice the success of the team, and that’s the thing we’re most proud of is her humility. It’s phenomenal, it really is, because that’s all her and it certainly didn’t come from me.”
Her end goal is not more individual awards, or any awards at all for that matter–it’s the NCAA tournament, an SEC championship, it’s a thriving women’s basketball program.
“Make no mistake, she wants to win. She’s come here to be a winner,” Derek Lewis said. “She’s not coming here to just blend in this time. Jordan is going to do everything in her power to enable to program to have more success going forward. I think when she looks back she’ll be able to say ‘when I entered the program it was at one level and when I left it was at another.’ Women’s basketball is going to be relevant here as well, not just football. The men’s basketball program is also going through that ascent and they’re on their way as well. We think that basketball will be an “in” thing at Alabama and that’s what we want to see happen.”
The Alabama women’s basketball team have won 17 games this season, which is the most during a season since Curry became head coach of the program. This year and this season may be special but Jordan Lewis is only getting started.
“I sit there and I think ‘wow, this is my kid?’ ” Sherene Lewis said. “I’m totally humbled by the fact that I’m her mom and she’s killing it on the court, in the classroom, and she’s just a great young lady. I’m proud of the whole package-not just the basketball.”
